Monday, February 27, 2012

1993 Royals and New Interview

The Royals bench at Kauffman Stadium on July 6, 1993.

My dad and I went to two Royals games in 1993, one in July and one in August. I still have the ticket stub from one. I have photos from the other.

The photos are of the first game we went to. Since I don't have the ticket stub, I'll have to rely on Baseball-Reference to provide the date. It was July 6, 1993, with the Orioles visiting the Royals, 8-0.

As can probably be seen from the pictures, we sat pretty high, and on the third-base side.

That's one of the pictures, of the scoreboard. Actually, there were several pictures of the scoreboard. And a couple of actual players. At least in the pictures that survived, there were no pictures of us, which was sometimes a problem in our vacation pictures.

But I've been waiting for a good spot to post some of these pictures and I found it. On that scoreboard picture is the lineups for the day. The occasion is that I've got the first part of an interview with one of those players set to go up tomorrow.

Actually, I've already interviewed another one on that list, Leo Gomez. I caught up with him last August, as he managed the short-season Aberdeen Ironbirds in Lowell, Mass. Gomez went 0 for 2 with an RBI in the 1993 game.

And I've done another related interview. In the ballpark that day, with the visiting Orioles, was the Orioles' second-year hitting coach, Greg Biagini. Biagini passed away in 2003. But I interviewed his longtime wife Vickie Biagini earlier this month.

Looking at the pictures, I can actually spot two different CMC set members, though not Gomez, Biagini or the player whose interview is going up Tuesday.

The other player is in the group shot above, though there might be others. Sitting on the bench is No. 24, Brent Mayne. Mayne made the CMC set as a member of the AA Memphis Chicks. He didn't make it into this game. He has also yet to make it to a feature here.

The other CMC set member who did make it into the game, but who is not pictured: Brian McRae.

My interview going up tomorrow is with Brian McRae. I caught up with him by phone recently from Kansas City. McRae is currently the GM of the KC Sluggers in Overland Park. The interview focused on his youth, his run-up to the majors, as well as playing for his father.